As Gold Miners Fall, Price Swings Increase to Three Year High

By Ben Levisohn

Take a look at the gold miners today. What do you see? Green as far as the eye can see. But if you glanced at yesterday instead? All that you’d have seen was red.

The moves, meanwhile, have been anything but small. Today, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) has gained 2.6% to $22.80. Yesterday it dropped 6.1%. On Monday, it was down 4.6% and from June 18 through June 20, it fell 2.9%, 3.2% and 7.4%.

It should come as no surprise then, that the size of the price swings in the Gold Miners ETF has also increased. The 120-day volatility of the ETF hit 42.3% yesterday, the highest since Feb. 2010.

South Africa’s gold miners are being bounced around as well, even as the trajectory remains firmly down. Barrick Gold (ABX) has gained 1.1% today to $14.94, but has dropped 49% during the past three months. Harmony Gold (HMY) has gained 5.6% to $3.48 today, but has fallen 46% during the past three months. Gold Fields (GFI) has jumped 4.3% to 4.91 today, but is down 37%. And AngloGold Ashanti (AU) risen 4.2% to $13.71 today, but is off 41.71$ during the last three months.

About Emerging Markets Daily

Emerging markets have been synonymous with growth, but the outlook for individual nations is constantly changing. Countries from Brazil and Russia to Turkey face challenges including infrastructure bottlenecks, credit issues and political shifts. Barrons.com’s Emerging Markets Daily blog analyzes news, data and research out of emerging markets beyond Asia to help readers navigate the investment landscape.

Barron’s veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron’s about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools. She studies multiple languages and photography.